The biggest losers in yesterday’s announcement of the Academy Awards nominations had to be DreamWorks and Paramount Vantage who were counting on a bunch of nominations for “Revolutionary Road,” the expensive adaptation of the classic 1961 Richard Yates novel about mid-1950s suburban angst that opens nationally today.
The Fairfield County-set drama starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio is the sort of end-of-the-year “prestige” project that depends on critical support and industry awards to make audiences believe they must see a rather grim story with a bleak finale.
In years past, this marketing and release strategy has made big commercial hits out of “Million Dollar Baby,” “Schindler’s List,” “Philadelphia” and many other serious films that might have died at the box-office if they opened in spring or summer without strong press and industry awards support.
The people behind “Revolutionary Road” built their whole theatrical run strategy on the assumption that Leo and Kate would be nominated yesterday, along with the film, director Sam Mendes, supporting actress Kathy Bates and supporting actor Michael Shannon.
The movie opened in New York and Los Angeles the last week of December in order to qualify for nominations, but the studio decided to keep the film in very limited release for a month, in anticipation of a big push and huge audience interest in the weekend following the Oscar nominations announcement.
The gamble was a bust, with “Revolutionary Road” failing to score any of the major nominations. Shannon was cited in the best supporting actor category, but one secondary acting nod is not enough to draw in moviegoers. By the time the awards are handed out Feb. 22, the movie could be a commercial dead issue, whether or not Shannon wins an Oscar (an unlikely event, with the supporting actor competition including Heath Ledger, who is viewed as a lock for his work as The Joker in “The Dark Knight”).
The real monkey wrench for “Revolutionary Road” was leading lady Winslet’s presence in another end-of-the-year Oscar contender, “The Reader.” She got her best actress nomination for that Holocaust-themed picture, which also snagged the best picture and best director slots that might have been held by the Yates adaptation.
One can only imagine the atmosphere at Winslet’s home yesterday, as she and her husband, “Revolutionary Road” director Sam Mendes, learned the terrible news about their pet project and the “good” news about “The Reader.”
